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Top 15 Multiplayer Games That Will Ruin Your Friendships

Games are meant to be enjoyed. To some they’re a recreational hobby, to others a burning passion. Regardless of which category you fall under, we all want one thing when we press that power button and pick up the controller – enjoyment. One way we get this is by playing with friends. If you think about it, lots of games market themselves on their ability to be played with others. As much as games seem like they’re sometimes better enjoyed alone, you can’t discount the fun to be had in a good multiplayer matchup. But outside of all the laughs and joy, things can often go terribly wrong.

We all get frustrated with games at one point or another. Be it the gameplay or difficulty involved, the stress gets to us and we need to let out some steam. That’s expected. But it’s also present with multiplayer games. Playing with friends doesn’t always put you in your happy place. In fact, it’s more likely to put you on edge. Stupid mistakes, douchey behaviour and general incompetence can turn an evening of fun into a full blown war. While we all love playing a good game with our buddies, these games can literally destroy the longest running relationships. So be sure to watch out for these 15 multiplayer games that will ruin your friendships.

15 Minecraft

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At first glance, Minecraft is the ideal multiplayer game. The game promotes using your imagination in a setting that allows you to create pretty much anything you want to. Your own imagination is your only limitation here. Add in friends to the mix and you’ve got a whole community of players going around building on a whim. It’s supposed to be a good time for everyone and usually it is. However, while creating things in Minecraft can be a challenge, taking things down is child’s play. Play the game long enough and you’re going to want to destroy some of the nice things you see on the server. If you’re playing with friends, then that can turn things ugly. Nothing’s worse than seeing week’s worth of progress go up in smoke over a few dead sheep.

14 LittleBigPlanet

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This is another title on our list that promotes creation and fun times above all. While the series might have fallen out of our minds as of late, LittleBigPlanet was huge when it first came out. While it might seem as though it’s all fun and laughs at first, just wait until you play the multiplayer. It’s rage educing gaming at its finest. Trust is something people have a hard time developing in the real world, so you can imagine it’s pretty hard to come by from a gaming standpoint. The idea of shared lives in a multiplayer game is one that just begs for things to go wrong. From here on out, there’s a number of things that can go wrong and almost all of them involve shifting the blame and hardcore screaming matches.

13 Contra

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It’s something that older gamers like to suggest every now and then, but the idea that older games were harder than what we have now is a long and tiresome debate in and of itself. Of course, we have plenty of aneurism educing games on the market right now and we’ve all seen at least one freak out video where some poor controller gets the brunt of some testy gamers’ pent up rage. But what’s worse than failing because of the AI is failing because of your numbskull friend. Contra is one of the hardest multiplayer games you’ll get your hands on. What’s worse is aside from the comically difficult levels, you’ve also got to share your lives with your co-op partner. So God help you if that guy sucks or is new to the game.

12 Rock Band

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What? Rock Band? Well this is just ridiculous, right? No one has a bad time when they’re playing this, it's music after all. People just chill and have fun. Listen to some tunes....

Yeah, alright man. That’s fine and dandy if everyone’s on the same wavelength and can actually play their instrument. Otherwise you’re going to see some problems pop up. The thing with Rock Band is it doesn’t get competitive until someone starts dragging you down badly. The bass and guitar are two of the easier instruments to play – so long as you put in some practice. But what about drums and vocals? Some people just plain suck at both and there’s a good chance that you know at least one guy who can’t hold his own. The game’s fun when you’re all grooving together. Not so much when you have to continually bail out your bandmates because they can’t keep a beat or hold a note.

11 Dota 2

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For those of you who have never heard, played or watched Dota 2 – get ready, because this is going to be a ride. Like any other MOBA out there, Dota has a ton of things happening on the screen at once. It can get hard to keep track of things while the game’s still pretty slow. When it picks, up you’d better be prepared for some of the most stress educing sequences you’ve ever gone through. One mistake, one slip up and you’re dragging your team down. If you can’t keep up with the flow of the game, then you’re detrimental to your team’s success. You’d have to have the patience of a Saint to put up with that kind of play for so long.

10 Halo Series

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The mother of all shooters, Halo revolutionized the first person shooting genre. The sci-fi war epic introduced players to entire new avenues of gameplay unseen since the release of Doom. One of the series’ most lasting contributions is its multiplayer. It’s also one of the driving forces in broken friendships. First person shooters are all about skill. There’s definably dome skill in there, but you look at some of the better players out there and you can see it’s instinctive to them, which can get really frustrating to more casual players. Plus you could always look over at the other player’s side of the screen real quick. Gaming’s original sin. What’s more is this is pretty much the game series that popularized “Teabagging” your opponent after you’d killed them. Good luck keeping your friends after that.

9 Portal 2

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Puzzle games are stressful enough without having to rely on someone else. Portal 2 is probably one of the most intellectually challenging games you can find on the market today. But it has one major flaw – its reliance on co-op. Of course you could go at it alone, but it really does feel like a two player game. So if you thought that having two people try and solve puzzles would make it easier, rethink that for a second. Because in this game a hard puzzle can absolutely ruin you. It eats at you, failure after failure until someone’s bound to just let it all out. You can choose to attempt to remedy this by sending your friend through an infinite loop but we’ve found that while hilarious, this doesn’t do much towards building cooperative skills.

8 GoldenEye 007

via nintendolife.com

GoldenEye is an N64 classic that consistently finds itself being mentioned as one of the best games on the console. For many young gamers, this was their introduction to multiplayer gaming and it still stands today as the basis for what most expect from a multiplayer shooter. But one glaring flaw that the game had was that it was really easy to cheat. Screen looking was pretty easy to pull off, and it accounted for more than a few heated arguments among players. That, along with the Oddball advantage and inherently broken weapons like the Golden Gun, could turn your basement into a mini battlefield within minutes. The allure of either option was too great to ignore, so inevitably bloodshed would occur.

7 FIFA Series

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Sports sims are pretty competitive by nature. That’s pretty much all they are. There’s no real story and, for the most part, you’re just going from game to game, trying to improve your skills enough to hold your own against other players. These games are essentially bought solely for their multiplayer components and so, competition is pretty heated going in. While you could make the argument for any sports sim to be on this list, we’re going to stick with FIFA here. You know how crazy soccer fans are and if you go on the internet, you can find any number of fans going absolutely nuts playing the games with friends or online. You don’t know how annoying letting one stupid goal in is until it happens to you... three straight times without fail.

6 Super Smash Bros. Series

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Nintendo is known as a child friendly company and they’re keen on keeping that image. They make plenty of games for you, your friends and family to all enjoy. At least that’s what they want you to believe. Really they’re intent on ripping apart you and everyone you love. At least that’s what it seems like when you take a look at all their multiplayer titles. Among some of the most stressful are the Super Smash Bros. games. An all out brawl isn’t the most relaxing of events to begin with. When you factor in lucky hits, overpowered items and clustered combat, the game can be pretty friggin’ infuriating. It’s the go to for any gathering and the largest cause for any altercations afterwards.

5 Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

via keeptalkinggame.com

One of the newer games on this list, this actually has a pretty interesting concept. It all revolves around communication. While you wouldn’t think that communicating would be troublesome between friends, factor in time constraints and the simulated stress of defusing a bomb and you’ve got a real party. If you’re good at describing things, then this game should be no sweat. Otherwise, it can get tricky after the first few rounds. The gradual increase in difficulty only adds to the stress and while some take it all with a smile, others might be ready to explode themselves. It’s the ultimate test of wills and friendship as you’re put against the clock.

4 Mortal Kombat Series

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Mortal Kombat has been around for decades. The games are synonymous with over the top blood and gore and that’s one of the reasons why we love them so much. Fighting games are very competitive. Regardless of who you’re playing with, everyone’s going to get into it and there’s always the one guy in your friend group who can handle himself like a pro. Anyone who tries to go with the flow or just “have fun” with it is weak. MK games can be especially infuriating as an experienced player can leave little room for the casual fan to do much of anything. The worst part though has to be the waiting in-between the end of the match and the fatality. The few seconds of build up seem like the ultimate spit to the face right before your opponent completely decimates you.

3 Mario Kart Series

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Another Mario game? But wait, aren’t these games supposed to promote fun and good times? Speak to any gamer and they’ll tell you otherwise. Among the most frustrating multiplayer titles, Mario Kart games stand as some of the most hate educing of them all. To put it in a few words; the games are about two things, coming in first and screwing your friends over in order to do so. You can do this a number of ways, as there are various traps and power ups to help you out. First place shifts so many times throughout a race it’d be impossible not to get at least a little infuriated with whoever you’re playing against. But the absolute worst thing about these games has to be the blue shell. That right there is the sound of a friendship dying.

2 Battletoads

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Here we step back in time a bit for a classic. If there’s one game that embodies the phrase “don’t help me,” it’s this one. This side scrolling beat-em up is a bit of a mixed bag. Sure it’s a fun multiplayer – at times – but it’s also got a ton of aspects to it that make it one of the most infuriating multiplayer games you’ll ever play. The whole point of playing with another player is to help each other and get through obstacles easier. But in Battletoads it seems as though having another player with you is actually harmful rather than beneficial. Seeing as if one person dies, you have to restart the stage at the last checkpoint, it’s safe to assume that Battletoads was meant to be more of a challenge rather than a good time.

1 Mario Party Series

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No other games have so perfectly disguised themselves among the gaming populous as friendly, welcoming titles as well as the Mario Party series have. If it hasn’t been made abundantly clear throughout this list, Mario games might seem like harmless fun, but let your guard down and they will absolutely ruin you. And what could be more infuriating than a game based entirely on luck and backstabbing your friends? Your successes are their immediate failures and the worst part of it all is the look of absolute joy on the face of the guy next to you as he’s taking your hard earned coins. They actually start to enjoy it and you know what? You do too. Mario Party games bring out the worst in people by far.